first person to fly an airplane in Australia? I didn't either, that's crazy.

In fact this guy's whole life was interesting because he lived it out daily cheating death

in front of thousands of people. Now this eventually caught up.. What's in your ear?

Oh, it's a rock in your ear. Magic.

So this is convenient because Harry Houdini was Jewish, and it's a Jewish custom

if you're going to honor the dead to go and lay a rock on top of their tombstone. Why don't we do that?

Let's go to Queens New York where he has a really cool tombstone and we'll lay this rock

there and I'll explain to you how Harry Houdini died.

Houdini was a genius. He became famous by putting himself in seemingly impossible situations

and then he would miraculously appear as though he had just cheated death.

So what put him in the ground here in New York? Since many people had a fear of drowning

Houdini often did tricks that involved being chained up under water. His most famous

trick was called the Chinese water torture trick. For some reason I thought that he had drowned

when this trick went horribly wrong, but in actuality it was only a punch to the

gut that did him in. Houdini was famous for being able to take a punch but on

October 22nd 1926 while he was laying on a couch backstage in

Montreal, a man punched him several times before he had a chance to brace himself.

According to his death certificate he died on Halloween from something called peritonitis.

So how could a punch in the stomach lead to Houdini's death when he had done it before?

OK we're back in Alabama. To figure this out, we have come to the hospital.

We're gonna meet a surgeon that I've known for a long time. He's known for his steady hand

and his good bedside manner. Let's go meet Dr Gilbert. Long time no see.

How you been? (Dr Gilbert) Hey it's been a long time. You look good man. You look like you've put a bit of weight on.

- Oh thanks I appreciate that. [laugh] - Looks like she's fattened you up. [laughs] - OK so clearly

I've known Dr Gilbert for a long time, he let me in his O.R. So I've asked you

to tell me about Houdini's death, and we know it's, how do you say it?

Periton.. - Peritonitis. - Peritonitis, OK. So let's say he got punched in the guts,

Houdini's laying on this table right now, and uh, what do you do?

- Well, Houdini, once he gets to this table he's already

consented to surgery. The first thing you have to do is get him..

we have to examine him, say you do have peritonitis, you have

an irritation of your abdominal lining, you clearly have a surgical problem.

It could have been appendicitis, but appendicitis typically doesn't happen because

of trauma. It would have been a serendipitous occasion

after the trauma. What he might very well have had is

a rupture of his intestine. - So when you take a punch in your guts, what's happening

there? I know muscles have something to do with it. - If you're prepared you're gonna tense up your

muscles and they are absorbing almost all of the energy of the

punch, and your internal organs are seeing much less of

that energy. - So it's like distributing that load around your abdomen.

- That's right. Now, if he's caught off guard, and somebody who really knows how

to throw a punch, and really prepare for..

he could be hurt. - [laughs] I punched a guy in the stomach and I recorded

on high speed. Now I was trying to figure out how to transition to it, but you kind of alluded to the

fact that I don't know how to throw a punch. - Well no I wasn't saying that. [laughs] - [laughs]

(Destin) OK this is Mike from SixPackShortcuts - I guess you have to hit my stomach right? - I gotta hit your stomach.

So Mike, he's that sexy guy you always see in the side bar that really

irritates people like me, because I don't look like that. [crowd laughs]

- [punch to skin] Oh-hhhhhaww. - Alright. I think we got it. Are you good?

- I'm good. - You can take that? - Yes. - OK alright, let's see.

Now watch Mike's muscles absorb this punch at 3200 frames per second.

[music]

- He just socked me in the stomach, and we just

watched in slow mo and it was awesome. (Destin) And now we're about to watch

your boobs bounce right? - Yes. - Moobies are about to bounce in high speed. [laugh]

Alright. OK, before you go watch Mike's boobs bounce, which is something I hope I never say again,

and before you see Dr Gilbert teach me how to throw a punch I figured I'd mention this book,

which was instrumental in making this video. Go to audible.com/smarter

and you can download The Secret Life of Houdini. It's a pretty cool book and it's one of the more expensive

audio books, so you can use your free trial at Audible.com to download this

thing. It's probably worth it. Anyway it taught me about how Houdini's personality played a

factor into his death because initially he refused surgery. - His personality

had to be a very strong personality, and a man that obviously

takes risk. (Destin) He actually refused treatment and that was part of the problem right?

- That was the problem, but he needed it framed

in the proper way. - So you're saying that the bedside manner,

how a patient and a doctor interact is very important, that's what you're trying to tell me. - Yes, yes,

and depending on the personality of the physician with a very strong patient

such as Houdini, I could see that it may have been very difficult

for the physician to have made his point. - That's pretty crazy isn't it? Anyway, check out this book

The Secret Life of Houdini at audible.com/smarter. Listening to audio books

is probably something you should be doing anyway. You might as well help Smarter Every Day out by downloading one at

audible.com/smarter. Anyway, back to your uh.. The weird thing

you wanna watch. OK I must admit this is the first time I've ever focused on a man's

nipple. Go. [laugh]

(Destin) This is messed up! Put your shirt on, now! [laugh]

[music]

- This is Master Burwell. He is our

Tae Kwon Do master. (Destin) That's fancy. Tell me what you think.

- No hit reaction.

Your wrist caved. Earlier when you did it you did this. You collapsed because

you didn't lock your wrist. Wrist maintained straight. [shout]

(Destin) So your wrist didn't fold. - Not at all.

[shout] - So there you have it. Houdini was killed by a punch, and possibly

just a little bit of his own ego.

[music]

[ Captions by Andrew Jackson ] captionsbyandrew.wordpress.com

Captioning in different languages welcome. Please contact Destin if you can help.